Chris Jericho (Fozzy) Meet and Greet Review (long read)

[SteigerWRX]

Rotting away on the nightshift, hanging over from a long weekend of Wrestling events, and thought I'd share my review of meeting Chris Jericho this weekend.

TLDR: Do it. If you get the chance to go to a Fozzy meet and greet, DO IT.

A few months ago my local radio station announced that Fozzy was coming to a local dive bar quality concert venue in town. It was for April 19th, which is the day after my wifes birthday. I'll be the first to admit, Fozzy has some decent songs but by no means are they a favorite band. I threw out the idea of us going for my wifes birthday as we are both huge wrestling and concert/rock fans. Basic tickets were about $40 a pop, with meet and greet running $250! We considered it for a bit but decided against it since it was on night 1 of WrestleMania and we'd rather watch the show than just go see a wrestler we like sing some songs we were just "ok" with.

Fast forward a few weeks to this past week. I was on my way to the lake to go fishing and I heard the radio station had a "ticket window" which means they were giving away tickets all day to go see Fozzy. However, the DJ then said they winners would also be getting meet and greet passes. Our radio station has a text line that people can text in song requests, trivia answers, etc.. I immediately sent the host a text telling him how badly I needed to win those tickets, that I would literally come down to station to work them off and that I literally wanted to name my first born "Jericho" (since my family has a tradition of naming the first born son a "J" name) but that my wife shut that down.

About 20 minutes later, right as I cast out my first line fishing, I got a text back that just said "call me!!!!!". I called up the radio station and he answered and just immediately said "Dont cuss, we're going live on the air". He got my on air and talked about how some guy messaged him saying how bad he needed the tickets, was wifes birthday, wanted to name kid Jericho, etc.. We proceeded to have a legit 5 minute conversation that felt like I was being interviewed live on air before he ended up by saying he was gonna give me his personal pair of tickets with the VIP meet and greet. I. Was. Floored.

Immediately I called the wife to tell her what just happened. Once we were done being excited we locked in the babysitter and we were in.

Now, the VIP package came with a few things, listed below.

• 1 General admission ticket to the show (subject to venue age restrictions)
• A Private Soundcheck Experience (featuring a mini set of Fozzy and Classic Rock songs)
• Individual Picture with the Band (your picture with the band, we will use your camera)
• Signed Photograph
• 2 Autographed items (you bring them, the band will sign them, provided item is legal and allowed in venue)
• Early Hassle-free Merch Shopping (when available)

Once I saw the bolded I had a million different ideas for what I wanted to bring to get signed. I have a deluxe big gold championship belt that I've already had signed by Goldberg and Ric Flair that I considered bringing, but the wife talked me out of it. So I decided to have some photos printed the morning of the show at Walgreens and then I coincidentally JUST pulled a Jericho AEW insert /25 so I decided to bring those (3 photos, 1 card). Everything will be staying in the collection and I'll be sending the card to PSA to be encapsulated to better fit into my collection and be protected.

Fast forward to Saturday. We were instructed to be at the venue at 3:15 to check in for 3:30 meet and greet. We showed up promptly at 3:15 and there were 2 other people standing there. Almost no cars in the parking lot. There was no way it was going to be that small. We thought maybe we got there way to early (or late). Over the next several minutes a few other people showed up. In the end there were 9 of us.

Around 3:45 the tour manager for Fozzy came out and he could not have been nicer. Told everyone how important we are, how we just got on a guest list that some huge celebrities have been on before and that we really were the VIPs for the day. He encouraged everyone to take as many photos and videos as we liked, facetime friends during the rehearsal, etc.. He then gave us the run down on how the autos and photos with the band and Jericho were gonna go and then ushered us in.

When I say it was just our group, it was JUST our group. The 9 of us VIPs, the band manager and 1 merch person. That was it. Once we got in, everyone got a chance to buy any merch they wanted (we got a couple shirts) and walk around while we waited for the band to come in and start rehearsing. While the rest of the group was at the merch table I got my wife to come over to the stage to snag a picture before the others came over. Right in the middle of our selfie out comes Chris Jericho. So casually on stage, 5 feet away from us. He turned out, flashed us a huge smile and say "Oh hey, didnt see you guys there". Then everyone else came on over and the rehearsal got started. One of my all time favorite wrestlers since I was in high school. I remember watching his WWF debut live, and now here I am just having a casual conversation with him lol.

Jericho spent every minute that he wasn't singing just talking to our littler group. HE took the time to ask US questions, took song suggestions for the rehearsal, etc. During one of their songs my wife and I took another selfie with the band in the background. Jericho saw me taking the picture and immediately ran over to photobombed it, pretty much creating one of my favorite pictures of all time. He took the time to get front and center for anyone taking a picture the same way.

After they played 4 songs it switched over to a Q/A while signing the merch. Jericho was obviously the star of the show, and signed any and all wrestling items (WWE and AEW) while the band also signed any Fozzy related things. Most people were seemingly trying to be respectful and not ask JUST wrestling related questions, which I think he and the band appreciated, but he answered all wrestling questions as well with a smile on his face.

After around 20 minutes of the Q/A and singing everyone got a chance to take pictures with the band, both as groups (if you came with a guest) and individually. Once that was done everyone was told to disperse because they had 2 other bands (the openers) that needed to get soundcheck done, but for everyone to come back at doors and head straight to the front of the line for VIP access. All in all the experience lasted around an hour and half.

Since we had a few hours before doors my wife and I just went down the street to Applebee's, ordered some happy hour appetizers and streamed WrestleMania on my phone until we went back for the show (which was awesome).

It was so cool to get to meet and hang out with one of my all time favorite wrestlers ever on WrestleMania weekend no less. I highly highly highly recommend anyone that gets a chance to do to DO IT.

Jericho even took the time to use different colored markers AND inscribe each of our photos differently, on his own without request.

• 11x14 AEW photo inscribed PainMaker
• 8x10 AEW photo inscribed Demo God
• 8x10 WWF photo inscribed Y2J

[Bosoxfan5990]

Very cool experience!

[SteigerWRX]

Originally Posted by Bosoxfan5990

Very cool experience!

It really was. I joked with my wife on the way there "they say to never meet your heroes. Well, he's not my hero.... but, you know what I mean" lmao.

[Gurds]

Really cool. Congrats!

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[peterose4hof]

What an amazing story! So freaking cool!

[pumpkinescobar]

Awesome. So glad you got that experience!

[DrZman]

Great read, sounds like a heck of an experience! Jerichos one of those guys that always seems to go out of his way to be good to fans.

[cardbooker]

That's awesome. I met Jericho once at San Diego Comic Con and he was just incredibly nice. Glad you had a great time.

[bigdinca]

Cool experience, I seen them play a couple years ago when they opened for Ugly Kid Joe. Couldn't get into their music and wait for them to be done but always a fan of Y2J the wrestler

[ThatGuyPal]

Originally Posted by DrZman

Great read, sounds like a heck of an experience! Jerichos one of those guys that always seems to go out of his way to be good to fans.

No he isn’t lol multiple videos of him having incidents with fans, cause he’s nice to (majority) people who paid a large price for VIP let’s not label him a saint. Wrestlers are also usually nicer if it’s to support their other less popular non-wrestling venture….see Hogans appearances for his beer for reference.

[SteigerWRX]

Originally Posted by ThatGuyPal

No he isn’t lol multiple videos of him having incidents with fans, cause he’s nice to (majority) people who paid a large price for VIP let’s not label him a saint. Wrestlers are also usually nicer if it’s to support their other less popular non-wrestling venture….see Hogans appearances for his beer for reference.

I mean I couldn't disagree with that more. The VIP was set up for the radio station. Of the 9 of us in attendance, only 2 paid for VIP package. Jericho and his team really went out of their way to make everyone feel important and enjoy themselves. Can't comment to whatever incidents you're referring to, but I'm sure there is a "bad incident" for every thousand of interactions these people have. I mean I think of seen clips of most wrestlers having a bad interaction with fans, "good guys" and "bad guys" alike.

The Hogan beer thing was a weird comparison as well. You said wrestlers tend to be better at those events, but didn't he just have an incident like 2 weeks ago that was all over the place of him leaving a bunch of people that waited hours high and dry?

Either way, was an amazing time and I really do recommend it to anyone who is a fan of Jericho (wrestler or musician). Far more intimate than the price some of these people pay for meet and greets. Saw clips of people who paid almost $400 to meet Cena this last week get 8 seconds to get a picture taken and then literally physically forced out.

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[SteigerWRX]

Originally Posted by bigdinca

Cool experience, I seen them play a couple years ago when they opened for Ugly Kid Joe. Couldn't get into their music and wait for them to be done but always a fan of Y2J the wrestler

Not a huge fan of the music. Like most of their singles, the rest.... not so much lol. Just cool to see him out doing what he is passionate about now. Could be still in WWE (or even active in AEW) in front of thousands performing once a week, but instead he'd rather be traveling all over performing in front of a few 100 at best.

Originally Posted by cardbooker

That's awesome. I met Jericho once at San Diego Comic Con and he was just incredibly nice. Glad you had a great time.

One of if not the nicest wrestlers/celebrities I've ever met for sure.

Originally Posted by DrZman

Great read, sounds like a heck of an experience! Jerichos one of those guys that always seems to go out of his way to be good to fans.

He really did though, he was so pleasant and happy the entire time, I don't think the smile ever left his face

Originally Posted by pumpkinescobar

Awesome. So glad you got that experience!

I appreciate it

Originally Posted by peterose4hof

What an amazing story! So freaking cool!

I appreciate it, figured it was a long read but was cool to reflect on how awesome it was.

Originally Posted by Gurds

Really cool. Congrats!

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Thanks!

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[SteigerWRX]

Happy Jericho



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[the mesiah]

Man! Now this is what BO is supposed to be about. ! Thanks for adding this and all the pics!

[SteigerWRX]

Originally Posted by the mesiah

Man! Now this is what BO is supposed to be about. ! Thanks for adding this and all the pics!

Thanks! Easily one of the coolest experiences I've ever done so I was definitely excited to share lol.

[RedLabelRecords]

Thanks for sharing. Couldn’t be happier for you. Didn’t mind the long read at all. The pics are awesome.